CHRISTIANS are the most persecuted religious group in the world with more than 90,000 killed in 2016 because of their faith, a leading religious study group director has claimed.

Speaking on Vatican Radio, Massimo Introvigne, Director of the Centre for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), said more than 60,000 of the Christians killed this year were murdered in tribal conflicts in Africa.

He claimed these deaths often came after Christians refused to take up arms for reasons of conscience.

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The religious chief said: "The other 30 per cent, or 27,000, were killed in terror attacks, the destruction of Christian villages, or government persecution.”

Around half a billion Christians are unable to freely express their faith, according to Mr Introvigne, although Christianity is expected to retain its place as the world’s biggest religion.

He also claimed the Catholic Church was considering possible sainthoods for Christians who stayed in territories controlled by the brutal Islamic State regime.

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Christian numbers in Britain are declining, according to reports

He claimed some Christians had risked their lives to preserve their faith.

The number of Christians in Syria has reportedly dropped from 1.5 million to just 500,000 since conflict began five years ago, according to claims from the Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo.

Although Christians remained the most persecuted religious group on the planet, the statistics - which are due to be released next month - are expected to show the number of Christians killed is down from 105,000 in 2015.

The Casey Review published earlier this month shows that Islam is now the largest non-Christian religious population in the UK.

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A display of Christian worship in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The report states: "Faith leadership has not to date been strong enough to counter the vocal minority who are bringing religion into disrepute and influencing the attitudes of people who increasingly regard religion as a force for bad.

"But there has been a significant shift in the religious landscape of the nation, with a reducing number identifying themselves as Christian, more people saying they hold no religion and more diverse and growing minority faith populations, of which Muslims are the most prominent.

"We remain predominantly religious, with nearly seven out of 10 of us belonging to a religion.

"Christians remain a majority, while a quarter of the population holds no religion. But the proportion of Christians fell from 70 per cent to 59 per cent, while the proportion holding no religion grew from 17 per cent to 26 per cent.”